Andy D'Agorne

Can you have 'sustainable development' in the Green Belt with a 400 space car park? That was the issue under discussion at tonight's planning committee. Representatives for the developer Dobbie's garden centre sent every member of the planning committee a long letter complaining of bias in the planning officer's report - he had the temerity to recommend refusal of permission for a green roofed timber framed Garden Centre next to the Designer Outlet, which was originally built on the site of the old Naburn Hospital. One committee member revealed she had been born there, while another suggested a Harry Potter theme with Dobbie and (Barry) Potter featuring as protagonists. The council staged a sound defence of its position with an economic expert to state that the local economy was in good health, legal advice that jobs could not be 'very special circumstances' to warrant departure from national and local policy on green belt. At the end of debate, the plan was rejected in spite of representations from Visit York and MP John Grogan to support the development. (amazing how such respected authorities can argue to ignore policy when it suits them!)

Next up was a truely 'green' development from Panter Hudspith for Carmelite St next to the Hungate development site - a 6 storey office block with green roof, ground source heat pumps and minimal basement car parking. The design was actually based on the winner in a design competition for JRF in 2002 See  http://www.jrf.org.uk/housingandcare/carmelite/ The developers said that they intended to acheive a BREEAM rating of 'excellent' - bizarrely the planner said in his report it would be 'unreasonable' to condition more than 'very good' which is what is set as a minimum in council policy. After some debate the rating offered by the developer was accepted and when we had all said our bit about how much we would like to see more applications like this it was unanimously passed.

To quote from their website:

"Panter Hudspith are a group of people committed to creating high quality modern buildings that respond sensitively to their environment but remain unquestionably of their time. We promote dialogue and careful interaction between clients, consultants and contractors and actively include both local and national authorities in all stages of the design and construction process. This search for inclusion creates an architecture that allows people to make places.

We aim to confront design problems in an innovative way, and to date have received awards from the RIBA and Civic Trust, and recognition from both English Heritage and CABE. We work as a team of architects, designers and organisers who are dedicated to creating buildings of the highest quality."

 Now we could do with a bit more of that for York,couldnt we?!!

This year's Energy Saving Week takes place from 20th to 26th October. 2008 is the event's twelfth year. Never mind the politics, here's something you can do today!  http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/What-can-I-do-today

'Energy Saving Week' is designed to promote energy saving action among householders through a concentrated programme of events across the UK, via a range of partner organisations and the Energy Saving Trust's network of regional advice centres.

The aim of Energy Saving Week is simple: to help consumers learn how they can reduce their carbon footprint and show how significant savings can be made in money, energy and time by making a difference. At the Energy Saving Trust we understand that time and money is something most of us do not have an abundance of.

As Karen Lawrence, head of advice, at the Energy Saving Trust explains:

"Climate change is arguably one of the most important global issues now affecting millions of UK households. It is no longer just a Government problem to be tackled on a policy level, but something everyone is thinking about on a daily basis. We're constantly being shown targets and timelines - telling us what the nation has to achieve and by when - to help fight climate change.

 But how on earth are we expected to fit an eco-rich lifestyle into our time-poor lives? Energy Saving Week - 20th to 26th October - is the perfect opportunity to discover your Green/Life Balance. We're urging people to take time to make time to change their households' habits to help fight climate change. It doesn't take long to get things started - there are lots of things you can do in just ten minutes."

This may not be quite the way that the Transition Towns movement envisaged it, but the effect is the same as the scenario of peak oil causing the wheels to come off the 'business as usual' economy. Having lived in South Yorkshire in the early 80's I know what recession is like - apprenticeships in British Steel in Sheffield plummeted from 200 one year to a handful the following year. Yet the governments around the world seem unable to think beyond pouring more money into the rotten system. Even at local level, councils including ours are pleading poverty because of rising fuel prices but dont have the cash or the political will to radically change the way we do things. Take for example yesterdays discussion among councillors and senior officers about sustainability targets for the coming year. Proposal to cut energy use in council buildings by 5% Yet we dont have a detailed energy audit of each building's uses. Is it achievable asks one officer. I point out that a 5% cut will still leave a 35% shortfall on the energy budget given the 40% price rise on last year, so shouldnt we be more ambitious, with a pledge than any savings over 5% can be retained by the department?
Politicians are still like a rabbit caught in the headlights of what is happening on the global economy. The solutions of Transitionistas, planting our own crops and building resilience in our local economies are right but can we put them in place quickly enough as the economy crumbles about our ears? Take a look at the film 'End of Suburbia' if you want to be convinced about what the effect of this current crisis and peak oil will be in the US -although produced in 2004 it clearly foretells the crisis that will come when the global markets realise that there are limits to growth because of finite resources - that is what is driving this forthcoming recession. See http://transitiontowns.org/York/NewsLinks for more about our local Transition towns campaign.